The invention relates to a plant for the preparation of fodder comprising a portion of solid foodstock in the form of grains or kernels, particularly corn, and a portion of water, said plant including a silo for the solid foodstock, a device for removing solid foodstock from the silo, a conveying device for conveying the solid foodstock removed from the silo to a crushing mill, and a mixing vessel for the mixing of the crushed solid foodstock and the water.
In the preparation of pig food, which comprises a substantial proportion of corn, so far, the practice has been to bring the corn portion into an agitator vessel in which is already contained a predetermined quantity of water. After the agitator or stirring means has been set in motion the corn portion and the water are mixed and can then be transported through a known distributing device to the feeding location.
The feeding in of corn into a mixing vessel is difficult, if only for the reason that this solid foodstock is of sticky consistency; it has to be considered in this connection that the solids portions are not only corn kernels but also rests of corncob stems. Therefore, it has become usual to mount a mill on the top of the mixing vessel and to charge said mill with the solid foodstock. In this way the mill is in a position to crush the material fed thereinto and directly deliver it to the mixing vessel.
In the meantime, it has also been proposed to perform the crushing operation while adding water to the material being crushed. This has the advantage that the energy required for the crushing process can be reduced, but special provisions must be made to ensure that the eventually obtained prepared fodder will contain the corn portion and water in the proper mixing ratio.
For the solid foodstock portion, particularly for corn-containing pig food, the corn, after the harvest, is introduced into silos and stored therein under airtight conditions. Now, in order to permit removal of said material from the silo, there is provided e.g. a milling cutter at the bottom of the silo whereby the corn material milled off is transported to the outside by a conveyor chain. However, such a device is not satisfactory, if only for the reason that due to the mode of transportation of the milled off material it is not possible to prevent air from getting into the silo. This causes decomposition processes in the stored material.
Therefore, it has become usual to attach a worm to the outlet end of the milling cutter, the worm housing being connected to the housing of the milling cutter by an airtight joint. The worm will now convey the milled off and dislodged material outwardly and, preferably, the material while being conveyed will also be compressed so that no oxygen can get into the silo. Only the forwardmost portion of the material being brought out in this way will be exposed to oxygen, and the undesirable decomposition processes will take place only in a relatively thin layer at that surface. However, that method is disadvantageous in that relatively high amounts of energy are required for conveying and compressing the solid foodstock and in that moreover, the compressed material must subsequently be milled or crushed, with further application of energy. Also, it is inconvenient that not only the silo bin but also the worm with its housing and the mixing vessel and the crushing mill must be in a specific spatial relationship with one another in order that the material being removed from the silo can be conveyed through the mill into the mixing vessel.
The problem underlying the invention now is to so develop a plant of the type indicated hereinbefore that in the preparation of fodder as little energy as possible will be needed but, on the other hand, fine milling of the fodder, particularly mixtures of corn kernels and corncob stem parts (CCM) will be possible. Also, the respective plant shall be so designed that the spatial relationship or association of the individual parts of the plant will not be critical; particularly, it shall be possible to take foodstock out of several silo bins and to prepare fodder in one and the same mixing vessel.